Dance of Fate
by Angel of Beauty
Summary: Rachel is obsessed with Dracula. She lives in a boarding school for girls. As mysterious invitations for a strange festival arrive terrible things begin to happen. Who is the one behind those events? ch.12 up!
1. Chapter 1: Invitations

**Dance of Fate**

Chapter 1: Invitations

_"You are the most beautiful girl I´ve ever seen", Count Dracula whispered as he spun her around. The dancefloor was empty except of them. Only he and her. Noone else. And she was with him! With her love!_

_The Count dipped her that her hair nearly reached the floor. "Soon you´ll be my bride", he said, running his hand over her bare shoulders. As if she was in a trance she said: "I want you too." With that the mysterious man pulled her up to his chest. Dracula bared his fangs until they touched the sensitive skin of her neck..._

"Rachel! Rachel! Will you wake up, now!" The voice was ringing in my ears. I looked up at Ms. Klump, my teacher. _Oh no! Don´t say that I fell asleep again... _Nervously I sat up and tried to put an innocent smile on my lips. The smile turned into dumb expression. "I don´t know who the one that you want is, but I want you to listen in my lessons! Is that understood, Rachel?" I nodded nervously and then turned my look at the science book that was lying in front of me. My class mates started giggling.

_I must have spoken while sleeping again, _I thought. Then someone tipped me on my shoulder. I simply moved my eyes towards Marienne, my best friend. She didn´t speak a word, but her lips formed the words: "That dream again?" I nodded.

Ms. Klump stamped her foot. "Rachel! Do you want to go to principal´s office immediately!"

I shook my head that my black hair flew around. "No", I also added. This teacher of mine was never pleased without words. In my opinion she was a bit exaggerating with her stuff about languages. Finally she turned back to her board and started writing again. The chalk made horrible sounds.

My name is Rachel Allen. I was visiting a special school only for girls. Since I watched _Van Helsing_ at the movies, I called myself a goth. I always wore black clothes. Even my blond hair was coloured black. And why did I do that? Because I loved Dracula! I simply adored him! The way his hair fell down his shoulders, how he wears that beautiful jacket, how he walks, how he speaks... sorry! Only my best friend Marienne knew that. But as always she hates the guys I love. Or does she hate them because I love them? Anyway, since I´ve seen Dracula I couldn´t get him out of my head. And at night he was following me. Every night I dream the same dream. I´m dancing with Dracula and before he was going to bite me I awoke. In Marienne´s opinion it´s a nightmare, but in mine...

I looked at the clock that was hanging in the classroom. It said: Time for the promised speech! Everyone was excited and couldn´t wait to hear those important news. The little accident had made Ms. Klump even angrier. My sudden change of image wasn´t for her liking.

"Girls, it´s time for me to tell you something. A special event will be set in one week from now. Every class in this school recieved invitations. So did you. Unfortuntately not everyone here is welcome to this festival. I don´t why the host of this event, whoever it is, chose only five girls from this class. Anyways I will give the invitations in your hands now", Ms. Klump finished her speech.

Marienne and I looked at each other. We were both confused, but the look that we shared said: _Ok, we surely won´t be two of the five girls._ Why should we be? We weren´t the prettiest girls in the class. Marienne with her glasses and the bushy brown hair was at least good at every subject, but me? A simple goth with a talent in languages and music.

I looked over at Sabrina Willis, the beauty of the class, getting her invitation. Her blond locks were shining like gold. If she wasn´t the favourite girl of Ms. Klump, she would have failed her last exam. The second letter was handed to Nataly Gomez, an Italian beauty with a few influences of other countries. Just as always when she was happy her hand went up to her black curly her. Everytime when she does so a few girls hide their faces behind their hands. Probably they were pretending to block lice that were flying out of her hair. That was a joke, because Nataly was a bit too clean. Ms. Klump strode past her and to Kate Johnson, our class witch. Her straight red hair was tied into a ponytail that went down to her hips (what the reason for the nickname is). All in all she was pretty. Then another beauty received her invitation. Our teacher handed the class bitch a letter. We used to call her so, because she had a new boyfriend every week. At least she told us so.

Ms. Klump turned on her heel and rushed in the opposite direction. I was in a kind deep in my daydreams again. But what I didn´t see, was that she was walking towards me. She threw it in front of me. "I don´t know why, but there must be a reason that they chose you", Ms. Klump whispered that only I could hear. Then she turned to the class: "You´re dismissed for today, tomorrow we will go on with our grammar!"

A few girls yawned at that. No one liked grammar. But our oh-so-kind-teacher-Geraldine-Klump found grammar to be the most important part of her subject.

I was in such shock that not muscle moved. I just sat there and stared at the untouched letter.

**Here´s another Van Helsing fic! Tell me what you think about the first chapter. Critism welcome! Shall I continue the story? Do you like it so far?**


	2. 2: The Moonlight Festival

Chapter 2: The Moonlight Festival

"What are you waiting for? Open it!", Marienne said as she sat down beside me. It sounded more like a command. And I must confess that I heard a bit of jealously in her voice that said: _Why her? Why not me? What does she have what I don´t have..._

Marienne always seemed to read my thoughts. "Of course you deserve it. All pretty girls in our class received such an invitation. I´m really proud that I have such a pretty friend." I smiled sadly at that. I didn´t find me pretty, because I was just a wanna be goth with too long hair. "Thanks. But I´m not sure about the whole thing. I won´t go to a stupid party if my best friend can´t come with me. And why are only, as you call them, pretty girls allowed?"

She shook her head. "You´ll never find out if you don´t open the letter!" Marienne sat down on my bed. I sighed heavily and took my seat beside her. Carefully I turned the letter in my hands, reading the backside: "Dear Rachel Allen..." I didn´t get any further. Marienne ripped the letter out of my hands and opened it herself. "Hey! Be careful with that!", I complained about her fast opening of it. Inside was a strange looking paper. A piece of parchment or something. Anyways it looked as old as if someone had prepared it before my birth, what was impossible. How should the host of this party know my name? At least my birth is seventeen years ago.

Slowly the parchment was unfolded by Marienne´s hands. "And?", I asked. She starting reading it loudly: _"Dear Rachel Allen, I am proud to tell you today that you´re one of the girls I chose for the first ,Moonlight Festival´. In one week from now the festival will take place. No place is better than your school, where it will be set at half past ten. I hope you take the invitation and please me with your arrival. Your host."_ She looked up from the parchment and into my eyes, searching for a reaction.

We just looked at each other before I broke the silence: "_Your host_? Is that everything?" Marienne nodded and handed the invitation to me. It was written with emerald green ink in an style of writing. Who in the world still writes on parchment?

"I´m not going to a stupid Moon Festival, when I don´t know who arranged it!", I protested. "_I hope you please me with your arrival?_ Who speaks so? The _host_ could have written: please come or something!" Marienne thought about it for a while. Then she counted something on her fingers. "Today we have thursday, correct? In one week is a full moon. Do you think the date was picked by a mere of chance?" I shrugged.

"Of course not! I bet my glasses that this host wanted this festival to take place during a full moon." I rolled my eyes. "I bet you watched Van Helsing a bit too often." Marienne smiled: "I don´t think so, because you´re the one who watched it over twenty times in one month!" Again I shrugged. "Don´t you think it doesn´t matter if in one week a full moon is or not? The only thing I´m worried about is this parchment!" She rose from my bed and took the invitation out of my hand. "Follow me!"

I didn´t know where she was going. This part of the boarding-school was unknown to me. Marienne opened a door for me and I entered... to find myself in a library. I´d never seen so many books before. Then a thought came to me. "Ahem,... you´re not going to find something about this letter out, are you?" She just smiled and walked over to the librarian. As I did so too, the woman there looked at me as if I was something disgusting. Then I saw a cross around her neck, another one around her wrist and another one on a ring. She was against goths. "Do we really have to be here?", I whispered nervously. Marienne ignored that and asked the woman. "May we borrow a few books of the oldest books?" The librarian looked suspiciously at us before she pointed at a bookshelf in the right corner of this room. "Thanks."

We walked over to the shelf with many old books, probably the oldest ones there. "Ok, Rachel, you start on the left and I on the right. We´re looking for hand-written books. Then we just compare the style of the letter with the one in the book!" I swallowed hard. Searching the biggest bookshelf for a few special books? That was insane!

So we spent the rest of the day in the library, finding here and there some books we needed. Then we put them on a table to see that we had found eleven ones. Marienne took six and I took five ones. And with a "little" bed reading we went back in the room that we shared.

**I hope you like this chapter! I´m sorry but there won´t be any updates of my stories for two weeks. I´m going on holiday and it´s impossible there to get online. I hope you can understand and leave many reviews for me for all of my stories :)**


	3. Chapter 3: A New Teacher

Chapter 3: A New Teacher

The whole night I had spent with reading in the books Marienne had given me. She prefered sleeping but I couldn´t resist and had to find something out about this mysterious host. As I found the right book it was nearly morning. That meant we had to go to our History lesson. So we went in the classroom to find no teacher there. Usually our teacher was more than punctual.

We nearly hoped to get free as Ms. Klump entered, another teacher behind her. The man wore brown trousers and a jacket in the same colour. He would have looked serious if he hadn´t had dark brown hair, that fell in curls to his shoulders. I looked at Marienne and smiled. We both knew how familiar this guy seemed.

"Class", Ms. Klump started, "This is your new History teacher. His name is Mr. Vankovic and he´s new in his job. Please be kind to him and greet him!" The whole class said "Hello, Mr. Vankovic" except of me.

I simply changed his name into Van Helsing and greeted him that way. It was my luck that noone noticed. Otherwise Ms. Klump would have torn my head off. The following lesson would mean fun! The fact that I loved Dracula made me hate Van Helsing for killing him.

Ms. Klump left the room and the new teacher in my class. Of course when a teacher was new, he had to know first who we all were. He took out a piece of paper and read name for name out loud. I watched as Nataly Gomez raised her hand as she heard her name. While doing so she fiddled with her hair like wild. I was about to take my umbrella out, so was her hair flying. Kate Johnson´s name was called and she raised her hand. Now it had to be my turn. "Allen, Rachel!", Mr. Vankovic called. I stretched my hand in the air immediately, a wide smile on my face. He breathed in sharply. A holy man and a goth - that was too funny.

His eyes wandered over my black hair, pale skin and at last the black dress. He seemed shocked. I nearly was about to get a laughing fit. Finally I had to interrupt his staring. "Can I get an autograph?"

Mr. "Van Helsing´s" eyes widened. "Surely not!", he said and then continued reading the names. All my class mates stared at me after I said that. _Haven´t they watched Van Helsing,_ I thought and simply ignored them. Suddenly a piece of paper landed on my table. "From Sabrina", I read and unfolded the note. It said: How dare you upset this extremely good-looking guy? I would have had chances and now he probably hates us all!" I shook my head. That was typical of Sabrina. How could she fall in love with this ugly, unfair, intolerant...

"Rachel! If this letter´s more interesting the than the practicing of presence than you surely have no problem when I read it, too!", Mr. Vankovic said angry. I hadn´t even noticed that he had rushed over to me.

I could see sweat forming on Sabrina´s forehead. Her face turned red as he took the note out of my hand and read it. After he was finished he looked at the letter´s author. Then he turned his look at me. Quitly he whispered something that only I could hear. "I don´t hate either of you. I just want to make sure that you´ll be not in my way when the time has come!" In the same volume I hissed back: "You won´t conquer again!" Then that was the last thing I would allow. I was sure that he meant that Dracula had returned. I wouldn´t let Van Helsing hurt my count.

Mr. Vankovic went back to his table and turned towards the board. There he wrote a special topic, he oviously wanted us to speak about. "The influence of the church", I whispered to myself. _Why didn´t I bring a cushion,_ I thought. That would be a boring lesson. Or maybe not?

**Finally here´s another chapter for you. Thanks for all those reviews you wrote. I hope you liked this chappie. R&R please.**


	4. Chapter 4: History Lesson

Chapter 4: History Lesson

Mr. Vankovic started dictating in my opinion stupid things about god, bible, heaven, church etc. I didn´t even listen. I just wrote word by word on my paper, whispering: "Blah, blah, blah!" His head turned towards me immediately. _He´s good in hearing the quietest noises,_ I thought as he rushed over to me.

"Rachel, would you be so kind and repeat what I just said?", he asked. But I knew exactly how to react: "If you want me to listen then teach me something that doesn´t make me tired!" My teacher´s eyes studied my dark appearance now. "And what would that be?", he asked, probably knowing what I meant. The corners of my mouth went from one ear to the other. "Maybe something that has to do with History and not religious education!", I suggested. Actually I expected that he would jump to the ceiling but instead of that he just pretended not to hear me. Mr. _Van_kovic turned on his heel and walked back to the board.

So, what to do next? He can´t really expect that I´m interested in things that are against my lovely Count! To keep me awake I took out a piece of paper and started drawing. I often did that when I was bored. Marienne always told me that the things I drew looked so real. My hope was then that this time the picture would look even more real!

I took my pencil and drew Van Helsing and Dracula (of course as giant bat and werewolf), who wer fighting. I made it clear who was winning. But I also wanted that Mr. Vankovic saw this picture. I could either lay it on my desk very presentably or just throw it on my teacher´s desk. But his desk was too far away.

"Please, now write a text about your connection to the church and how you really feel about it", Mr. Vankovic told us and sat down on the chair at his desk. That was my ultimate chance to get him to see the picture. I punched the class witch in the back with my pencil. She didn´t turn towards me but held her hand behind her back and showed me with her fingers to give her the paper. Slowly she was getting used to it that I didn´t listen to things I wasn´t interested in. I put the drawing in her hand and watched it travel foward over the banks and finally to our teacher´s one.

I saw him unfold it and... his jaw dropped. That image was so funny that I had to keep myself in control in order not to laugh. Marienne also saw this and giggled silently to herself.

Quickly I began writing some lies of my opinion about the church on another paper and tried to look as innocent as possible to him. I heard him stand up and walk through the class catching a sight of everyone´s text. At that time I felt my heart sink into my skirt. What was he going to do now? He probably knew that I drew this picture and...

Someone cleared his throat right in front of my desk. I looked up at the voice´ owner, trying to look as calm as ever, almost sheepishly. "I hope you don´t mind that I´m going to keep that cute little drawing of yours. And that you´re getting detention for this afternoon. 5 o´ clock in principal´s office!", Mr. Vankovic hissed in a dangerous tone. Detention in principal´s office was the worst punishment you could get. Everyone knew that our head was the strictest person in this school but only a few got to see him: Those who got detention with him. The thought of a human being that was stricter than Ms. Klump scared me.

But I couldn´t give up fighting Van He... I mean Mr. Vankovic. So I rose from my seat and spat right into his face: "Why so stressed? Is it fullmoon already?... And now excuse me!" I strode past him as the bell rang. Trying to stay calm our teacher commanded: "The rest of this text is your homework for tomorrow. Don´t forget to thank Rachel for it!" I didn´t care. I had protected my Count and that made me proud!

"Rachel! Rachel!", someone called behind my back. But I ignored the call and kept walking to my locker to fetch the books for our next lesson. Marienne was now beside me and tidying up her locker. "Rachel, that was insane!", she told me. I slammed my locker´s door and looked at her. "Do you agree with this jerk now? Do you also think that I just fancy someone who doesn´t exist? Is it that what you think? The I´ll tell you I love Dracula with all my heart and don´t care if he has one or if he can only have dead children. This creature needs understanding and most of all love!" If there had been a comic about me probably the American flag would have appeared behind me. All girls on the corridor stared at me and Marienne. I smiled my most innocent smile and pulled my friend into the girl´s bathroom.

"Rachel, you´re a hopeless case. And I´m sorry if I did upset you with what I said", she said and smacked my forehead playfully. I just smiled back and replied: "I know I am. I know."


	5. Chapter 5: Detention

Chapter 5: Detention

Ok, ok. I know that trying to Vankovic´s patience wasn´t one of my wisest ideas but I already got my punishment. At that time it was ten minutes before five and hiding my nervousness failed completely. I was sitting on a chair and tapping my fingers on my knees. I hadn´t seen the pricipal really before and now I was waiting for him.

Finally after an endless eternity I heard the knob of the door click and gasped in surprise. I spun around immediately after the noise and ould myself feel begin to stare. That was never the principal. It was... Carl? I spoke my thought out loud: "You got to be kidding me!" But he seemed to ignore the question and walked past me slowly and took his seat at the other side of the table. For a few seconds we just stared at one another. Probably he was trying to find the right words to say because I was doing so, too. Of course it was possible that he just tried to look like Carl but in this case he played his role impressively well.

"As I can read from your face...", he began but I didn´t listen after this piece of sentence. I was far too shocked to do anything now. It was exactly Carl´s voice! "...I´m just someone to take the job of your principal for the following week. He seemed to be a bit ill the last days so I recommended visiting a doctor to him and now I´m sitting here", he finished his story.

Another silence got between them, which I used to eye him closely. He wore light blue jeans, a light brown jacket and his thin blond hair wasn´t standing from his head anymore. I didn´t know how someone could persuade him to go out like that.

"So, you´re Rachel, correct?" I simply nodded and continued to stare at him.

"As Mr. Van...kovic told me you have a bad attitude towards the church. Why do you feel about it so? I bet you´ve read the bible before?" Now it was my turn to be just as _friendly_ to him as to Mr. Vankovic. Strange that he tripped over this name, isn´t it? I changed the position on my chair so that I looked like little girl with good manners and replied to his questions: "I´m sorry to disappoint you now but I must confess that everytime I wanted to read this _holy_ book I fell asleep after I had read the first page. And please be assured that I have my reasons for this opinion."

I had him now. He would continue asking and I would answer just the things he didn´t want to hear. "And these reasons are?" I smiled sweetly at this question. That was my chance. "At first you need to know that I don´t like telling you this but of course I would never refuse to answer teachers´ questions."

After this I paused and let the words have their effect on Carl. Then I continued: "My opinion is that everyone should decide what they believe and that everybody should have the right to refuse to believe in things. You can take me as an example. Of course I believe in god but he did never say a word about not to tolerate other religions in which god isn´t the god. Do you know what I want to say?" I could see him biting his lower lip, as if wanting to hold something back from being said.

"It´s obvious what kind of religions you mean. But do you want me to tell you why I have a critical eye on them?"

I put a confused expression on my face. "I never said something that might have made you believe that you do so, have I?"

The man opposite me swallowed hard and pretended not to have heard the last part. "What I wanted to say is that I´m... let me say, a bit worried about your knowledge about such religions and I just want to -"

" - protect me from misunderstanding you and what you believe in. You simply want to tell me that persons who have a connection to the devil should be taken from this world and be kept from sharing the fate of such evil creatures. Of course you never doubted a thing that was told you about such persons. I think I got your message right!", I finished and made him speechless with it. I knew that it was rude what I said. Carl was a really kind guy in the movie but I couldn´t let him talk in any way bad about Dracula.

After he had collected what his thoughts he kept his gaze upon the desk and said quietly: "I´m sorry, Rachel, but you leave me and yourself no other way to have your parents phoned and teached about your behaviour." My heart started racing. I really hadn´t expected that. Perhaps I went a bit too far with my words.

"You may go now. You´ll hear from me tomorrow", I heard him say as I left the office without losing one more word. What had gotten into me? I usually joked with such things but as I said them this time I sounded so serious. Was I really so obsessed with Dracula, just as Marienne had tried to tell me? But it was too late to make it undone again. If my parents found out they would forbid me movies like Van Helsing or worse: they would take me on an other boarding school.


	6. Chapter 6: Seems So Real

Chapter 6: Seems So Real

I went to bed right after I had returned from my detention. The thought of disappointing my parents made my tired and sad. But in my sleep I experienced something I had never felt before...

_I could feel cool air caressing my skin. My first thought was that the window had to be open. As I turned to my right side I saw that it wasn´t. So I went for my covers but only to find none. Something was very wrong. I sat up in my bed, looking around to find something to protect my from the cold. Suddenly I felt hands on my shoulders. Male hands. They pulled me back until I leaned against their owner´s chest. It felt surprisingly good as he brushed a few strands of black hair out of my face and his soft fingertips touched my cheeks. I felt myself lean against his muscles I felt under his shirt._

_His hands now moved down my bare arms and to my waist. He pulled my nightshirt up a bit, just to expose some parts of my pale skin. With one hand he created massaging circles on my stomach. His other hand travelled further down and came to rest on my left thigh. Finally I dared to turn my head and look in the eyes of my nightly visitor. I looked into two endless oceans of crystal blue. His almost white skin created a good contrast to his raven black hair that was clipped back neatly into a ponytail. Two golden loops were his earrings. Slowly I rolled over on my stomach so that I could face him the whole time. A soft smile appeared on my lips while I studied the face of my count. He began to run his fingers through my hair softly. I breathed in deeply. It all felt so right._

_He leaned down towards my face and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. My first real one. Vlad´s hands made their way over my back and then all the way up again. Without a warning he rolled me over once more. He was now on top of me. I knew what he wanted and I was more than willing to give it to him. Our bodies were so close, almost stuck together. _

_Then I felt him touch my breasts. I moaned out loud. It seemed as if I had no control over myself anymore. I started tearing his silk black shirt. My aim was to lie on his bare chest one time. After I was done I fulfilled my wish and relaxed against him. "Rachel, my love, tell me, ...what do you desire the most?", Vlad asked, a devilish grin appearing on his handsome features. The smile I adored so much. _

_"You...", I told him. "I would give everything just to become your bride."_

_His smile grew even wider. It was the answer he wanted to hear. "And how far would you go? Do you really mean everything?", he kept asking. _

_I didn´t understand the reason why he would want me to tell him over and over. Didn´t he believe me that I loved him with all my heart? But still I answered him: "Yes... yes, I do." How could he doubt my feelings for him?_

_All of sudden I felt his lips again. This time it was my neck he had gone for. He sucked at my skin teasingly. His mouth travelled over my jugular vein, then to my chin and finally back to my mouth. Vlad pulled me into a passionate kiss. From that moment I didn´t know how I could live without him for such a long time. With my tongue I could feel his fangs inside his mouth. He grazed them over the sensitive skin of my tongue before he bit down hard. I nearly jumped from the pain his bite sent through my body..._

"Rachel! Hey!" I felt someone rocking me from sleep. It was Marienne. Through my half-closed eyes I could see her form leaning over me, a worried expression on her face.

I sat up and my vision cleared. "Why did you wake me! You can´t imagine what this dream meant to me!", I cried. Even I hadn´t expected such an outburst coming from me. I hung my head in shame. But I was so close to my lovely Vlad! Why couldn´t this moment last forever?

"Rachel, listen, I truly can imagine what your dream was about. You moaned and talked in your sleep like you never did before. But let me tell you that it will destroy yourself when you keep on thinking that you´ll meet him someday. He isn´t real... I´m sorry...", her voice trailed off. I knew that she wasn´t the only one who was worried about me because of my obsession but I couldn´t stop loving him. I just couldn´t. I simply nodded towards Marienne and then drifted back into sleep.


	7. Chapter 7: Unknown Truth

Chapter 7: Unknown Truth

It was seven o´ clock when I was sitting on my bed without being able to find sleep again. The dream I had had been my only connection to my Vladislaus. The idea of this dream being my last with him made tears come into my eyes. Quickly I wiped them away as I saw Marianne awake. Her eyes were half-open, half-closed as she looked at me sleepily. "I hope you aren´t angry at me anymore for waking you up", she said, rubbing her eyes.

I forced a smile on my lips at the thought of the last night. In one hour our first lesson would start. On Wednesdays lessons always started earlier with some sports. Once again a subject they could have thrown out of the schedule in my opinion. This week was one which contained climbing up ropes. And I... well,... wasn´t the strongest nor the sport-obsessedest girl. If this was even a word. I watched Marianne crawl out of her cave of cushions she had built in her bed and open the drapes. The sun was up already and made me blink. I tried to keep looking out of the window to watch a bird on the outer windowsill to find it impossible. After almost one minute I held my hand in front of my eyes.

"You must be more tired than I thought, sleepy head", Marianne giggled. "You better go to the bathroom and splash some water into your face. I´ll make your bed today." I nodded thankfully and did as recommended.

After I was able to see again I looked into the mirror that hung over the wash-basin. There in the lighter bathroom I could see my own eyes. They were red and bloodshot as if I had wept the whole night. But of course I hadn´t done so. I couldn´t understand what was going on. I reached up to touch my eyelids. They felt sore and heavy. _I look like a monster_, I thought. Suddenly it felt as if something sharp pierced my eyes. I clenched them shut in pain, pressing my hands to to the skin where now blood trickled out.

Finally after a few seconds that seemed like eternity the pain decreased and I could open my eyes. Gasping for breath I looked down at my hands. Thick red blood was stuck to them. As I looked in the mirror again I found my eyes as they were always.

I jumped under the shower right after this painful experience, washing all the blood and tiredness away. I then dried and combed my hair and got dressed. Before I left the bathroom I looked again in the mirror, checking if everything was still okay. My eyes still looked normal but I also still couldn´t imagine why they had bled so heavily. Marianne had made the beds and prepared our bags for school as I walked into our room. She noticed the expression on my face immediately. Putting her "Are-you-sure-that-everything´s-alright?-face" on, she asked: "Do you want to tell me?" I knew she was worried about me but I just couldn´t act different but to spit back: "No, I won´t tell you!"

Clutching my mouth in realization I turned my look towards the dark red carpet in shame. "Sorry", I whispered. I was worried about my behaviour and my eyes myself but I couldn´t explain what was happening inside my body.

Marianne put a comforting hand on my shoulder and with soft force we walked outside. She probably thought it was my time of month but that wasn´t posibble because it had went away just a few days ago. I decided to tell her about my eyes later but forgot about this as we entered the gym.

Sabrina and Kate were standing on a bench and trying to push each other from it. Marianna and I shared a look that said everything and walked on. Our gym had mostly light brown shades, the walls as the floor. A few green mats lay under the ropes we would have to climb on.

"Kate, stop attacking Sabrina! We want to start our lesson!", a demanding voice behind us called. I probably haven´t mentioned yet that Ms. Klump was also our sports teacher. But this was a fact I would have liked to forget. Kate had stopped protesting long ago. It was useless to argue with Ms. Klump about her favourite student. Each girl found her place in a queue that built up in front of the rope. To my luck I wasn´t the first to start. I let out a sigh of relief as I lined up almost at the end of it.

As everyone expected my sport clothes were also in black and made up of a tank top and long trousers, not short ones as the most of my class had. I didn´t like showing the knock-knees that I had in my opinion. Once again I didn´t listen to my teacher who told us some new things we had to do on the rope then. I didn´t care much about that. I often imagined the Van Helsing characters going to school together. So I did at this moment. At least it was almost true now with Mr. Vankovic and our principal.

"Rachel, it´s your turn now to show your exercise to the class!" I jumped as I heard Ms. Klump say that. I hadn´t even noticed that I was on the beginning of the queue now. I nodded hastily and put my hands on the rope as I heard our teacher whisper: "Daydreamer!"

I smiled my innocent smile at her and jumped a bit in the air before putting my feet to the rope. Holding onto it like a monkey I pulled myself up until the middle. Strangely it wasn´t as difficult as I had been used to it. Almost with ease I reached the hook which held the rope. And that for the first time of my life! It was an awesome feeling to see all the other students look up at me. Suddenly I had an idea...


	8. Chapter 8: The Breakdown

Chapter 8: The Breakdown

I reached for the rope beside the one I was climbing on and held onto it tightly. Soon my legs followed. With my free hand I wrapped the rope around my right ankle and then let go. Falling backwards I hung upside down and only one leg kept me from a surely unpleasent landing. Once more my hand found the first rope again while my foot slipped out of the rope´s hold. Now each hand held onto one rope. I pulled myself up a bit and leaned forward to swing my legs over from behind. Surprisingly my shoulders and upper arms didn´t hurt from that. At last I got hold onto the first rope only and let myself slip the way down.

A sigh left me as my feet felt solide ground again. Turning around to face my class I smiled brightly. It had been real fun but Ms. Klump looked like she had just seen a ghost. Some girls clapped while the rest just stared. Slowly the situation became more and more uncomfortable until our teacher finally broke the silence.

She cleared her throat before saying: "I didn´t tell you to play with the ropes like a child, Rachel! What got into you that you tried such dangerous things!"

My smile ceased. I had at least hoped for someone to tell me that it had looked good though. I turned my look towards the floor. Some things would never change. "Once more you had to show everyone that you carry neither responsibility nor the will to follow instructions in you. Maybe I should inform the principal about your behaviour...", she only muttered the last part. My eyes lit up at that. But surely not from happiness. I didn´t want to visit Carl again and let him insult me for my style! I just wouldn´t let him!

I caught Marianne looking at me with pity. I tried to smile but failed. "Girls, you comtinue your exercise and Rachel you´ll spend the remaining lesson on the bench. Nodding my head I walked over to the bench. In the corner of my eye I saw Marianne following me. We both sat down and she wrapped an arm around my shoulders comfortingly. "I think you were amazing. But where were you able to practice climbing?", she asked. I of course noticed that she was trying to cheer me up. At least one noticed what I needed then. I shrugged helplessly and replied: "I don´t know. It was so... I can´t even describe it. It was like something snapped inside me and then I felt able to try it. I haven´t felt anything like that before."

Marianne put her worried expression on her face. "Do you think the latest events here at school are connected somehow?", she questioned. I laughed. "Dream on! That would be too good to be true. Anyways I´m very excited. You know what our next lesson is?" She now smiled. On her schedule Music is after Sports and that was my favourite subject!

"So I´m finally getting to hear what you, Nataly and Sue have been practicing all the weeks!"

"Marianne, come here! It´s your turn now!", Ms. Klump shouted in our direction. My best friend jumped to her feet, waved a small goodbye and raced over to the ropes. What Marianna had said was true. Our Music teacher, Mrs. Reinhard, really seemed to like me because of my voice and gave me the permission to choose two songs I was going to sing alone, only with my two background singers. At first I had wanted to choose _Blasphemous Rumours_ by Angelzoom. That would have been really fitting. But then I just chose _Just Call My Name (I´ll Be There)_ and _Street of Dreams_, both by Blackmore´s Night. These songs are faster ones and one of my ultimate favorites.

I sighed once more as I heard the school bell ring and Ms. Klump dismissed us. Maybe she would just forget about the climbing thing, at least I hoped so. As I walked into the dressing room Nataly came over to me. "I´m so excited!", she exclaimed and jumped up and down. She was quite the child sometimes but she was okay. "Can this week get any better? At first we got those invitations and now we´re going to sing these beautiful songs!... Oh, by the way: your rope-show was so impressing. You should have seen the Klump´s face!" After that she jumped to her locker and I went to mine. I got dressed in hurry because some things still needed to be prepared.

Then I went back into the gym where we would sing. Some other girls helped us preparing the stage and fixing the microphones. Sue and Nataly found their places behind one in the back of the stage while I got my own on the front. Chairs and benches were carried inside and I was beginning to wonder who was going to come.

After almost one hour everything was settled and two classes (including mine) entered the gym. My jaw dropped as I saw who also took their seats in the front row. Not only Mrs. Reinhard and Ms. Klump but also Mr Vankovic and the principal. _That is so typical of them! They have to be everywhere to make my life miserable!_, I thought.

While silence spread around the publicum I could here ragged breaths from behind. As I turned around I saw Nataly through a curtain. She was sitting on a chair and Sue had placed a hand on her shoulder. I joined them behind the stage but only to find her pale as death. I took one of her hands in mine and ordered Sue to bring some water. Nataly´s skin felt cold, almost frozen. "I´ll tell them to rearrange this on another day", I told her. It wasn´t worth it to see her fainting. "No!", she protested and got up from the chair. Sue returned with the water and handed it ver to our friend, who drank the whole water out of the glass. Within seconds color returned to her face and her hand went up to her hair. "This is your chance, Rachel. I won´t ruin your day!"

With that Nataly walked back onto the stage, followed by Sue and then also me. Now I was even more nervous than I had already been. The loud cheering ceased and the music began. The first song was _Just Call My Name_. Right after the first few notes it was my turn to join the song. It was an incredible feeling and just as good went the second song. The atmosphere was so good, everyone cheered and clapped. But a quiet thud caught my attention: Nataly was lying on the stage, the cool sweat on her forehead once more.

* * *

Quick note: I won´t post any lyrics in my stories but if you still want some sent to you, let me know (the same is for Witch Hunt). Now please R&R ) 


	9. Chapter 9: Understanding

Chapter 9: Understanding

All tries of Marianne to get me to calm down failed. I sat in front of the door that lead to the hospital room, my face buried in my hands and my legs shaking. I was so nervous that I ignored everything my friend told me. After almost an hour the door opened. Immediately I jumped to my feet and pulled Marianne with me into the room. The smell of the corridors of a hospital stung my nose but I didn´t think about leaving again. At first I had to find out what had happened to Nataly.

I found her sitting up right in her bed. She was deadly pale and her usual tidy hair was messy. As she noticed me a smile appeared on her lips. I tried my very best to return the expression but I was unable to. I gave myself the fault for everything that had happened.

Sitting down on the edge of her bed I asked her: "How do you feel?" This was a stupid question. Nataly looked so weak that she could faint every moment again. But she just shrugged. With her hands she gestured over to an antidote that stood on a small table beside her bed. Then she pointed at her throat and shook her head. I didn´t understand a thing of what she said. It made me even more nervous than I already was. Why didn´t she speak to me? What was going on there?

Suddenly a hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped off of the bed in surprise. Turning around I found Mr. Vankovic looking at me. "I didn´t mean to scare you", he assured me but that didn´t matter. With soft force he pushed me behind a curtain, out of the space Nataly could hear us talking from. "What happened?", I demanded to know. From the look on his face I could tell that it was something serious.

"All the blood in her body seems to have disappeared. There was no wound, not even a scratch or mark to be found to proof the reason", he said.

I swallowed hard. It reminded me so much of Dracula´s victims but if there wasn´t even a mark it couldn´t be him. I confess that my thoughts were selfish because I only thought about my advantage to meet him someday while Nataly was ill.

Mr. Vankovic continued: "Something with her throat has happened. As we brought her here she could hardly breathe. Then her voice was gone. I don´t know where or how this could have happened so I can only speculate. Regaining her strength may take her a few days, then she´ll be well again but it looks like her voice will never return. The doctor told her that it´ll be gone for a while from the medicine we gave her-"

"Why did you lie to her? Why are you doing this?", I shouted at him.

During his speech my patience had gotten very thin. I was so angry at him, at myself. Just at everyone! I turned away from him and thought about his words. It made me so mad that they gave Nataly any medicine to calm down and then lied to her. So that was what she had meant. And it was probably also the reason for her being so calm while talking to me. She didn´t even know how bad the situation was that she was in.

"Rachel, listen,...We just mean the best for her. I know that lying is wrong but there´s no other choice. She has suffered enough already."

Shaking my head I wanted to walk out already when I heard Mr. Vankovic start talking again: "There are more things I need to discuss with you. Starting with your behaviour and then also about your family problems."

My eyes narrowed at that. What did he mean with that? Okay, that he noticed my own way of behaviour was not to avoid but there were no problems between me and my parents. To me my family seemed like one of an old but wonderful tale. My mother was such a sweet person and always there for me. My father spent most of his time working but when he was home on holidays it was always fun. At least I had to thank him that I was able to visit this expensive boarding school. I was never a kind of shower but I had to mention sooner or later that I wasn´t poor. Then a special thought caught my mind: What if something really serious had happened? Maybe someone was sick or even worse!

I still remembered their warm hug before I had to attend school again and all the pictures I had from them as reminders in my room. "I´m sorry. I shouldn´t have talked about the topic so abruptly. I know it was hard for you to grow up without a father."


	10. Chapter 10: An Important Call

Chapter 10: An Important Call

This couldn´t be true. Mr. Vankovic probably said this to the wrong girl. I had a father. I could remember him saying goodbye to me as if it had been yesterday. "No, you´re wrong. I grew up with the best father I can ever imagine", I told him. But he looked at me like I was crazy or something. Why didn´t he believe me?

"Rachel, listen: Last night I received a call from the police. They found your father´s corpse. The weird thing at that is the fact that an investigation said he had been dead for almost 18 years. Though his body looked like he died only hours ago. I´m truly sorry for you and you don´t need to pretend you had a father. That would be impossible." Mr. Vankovic seemed really worried about me but that didn´t change the fact that he was talking the biggest crap I had ever heard. I didn´t understand what had happened. My father couldn´t be dead.

I found his hand resting on my shoulder. Quickly I shrugged him off. "You´re lying, right? My opinion about some things are not for your liking and now you try to convince me of such shit!" I almost screamed but I didn´t care. I wasn´t insane!

Reaching in my pocket I took out a photo of my family and showed it to my teacher. On it my mom and dad together with me at the age of eleven could be seen. That was the proof that my father never died. Even if he actually did a couple hours ago I refused to believe it. My family was so perfect, as well was my life and that could never be true. Mr. Vankovic eyed the photo closely and I could see in his eyes that something was very wrong. "You´re sure then that this picture isn´t faked?"

Slowly, but still I could feel myself run out of patience. Biting my lower lip I fought back my tears of anger. What if he was right and Dad gone?

"Let´s call your mother. I need to make some thing clear", he said and walked with me behind him into the principal´s office. I didn´t care whether I was with Carl and him in the same room. All I could think about was my father.

Arriving there Mr. Vankovic picked up the telephone and handed it over to me. I stared at the two men standing in front of me and ordered them with my eyes to leave the office, which they did. As if I was in a trance or something my fingers slowly pressed down button by button and called Mom. My hands started shaking as I lifted the it to my ear and listened to the sounds the phone made. "Allen here."

I swallowed hard and answered my mother´s voice: "Mom? It´s Rachel... what happened?"

The fact that she sounded as if she had wept for hours scared me. Usually she was a kind and funny person. "Oh, dear, so you´ve been told already, right?", she sobbed quietly after that and then continued. "I´m so sorry that you had to find out through the school. But I think I wouldn´t have been able to tell you." She spoke very softly. She could probably feel the tears running over my face at that moment.

"Have you also heard about how it happened?"

"No", I said truthfully. My teacher hadn´t told me why he had to die. I wiped my tears away and waited for her to answer, which came after a short silence between us: "His neck was broken. Deep scratches were found everywhere on his skin. They guess he had been pushed from the bridge they found him under. What I am about to tell you is something you´re actually not to know. He lost an amount of blood before he hit the ground, although nothing could be found... Rachel, your father died last night but they say he´s been dead for years."

"I already knew the last fact. But...", I breathed in deeply before continuing, "How is that possible? They must have made a mistake during the investigation. Mom, you and he said goodbye to me before I came here for this school year. There has to be something wrong!"

My mind protested against everything that had happened during the last hour. And I needed an explanation for all this.

Another silence got between us. It was obvious that my mother thought about how to tell me. Or even whether to tell me? But I could sense that she knew more than she wanted to tell. "Rachel,... shortly I was informed about the Moonlight Festival in your school. I will do everything to come here before it will take place. We have to talk about so much. All I want from you is not to worry about me. Everything´s alright with me and the house. I´ll explain everything when I´m here, ok?"

Although I knew she couldn´t see me I nodded before also adding a "yes". At that moment I wanted my mother to be here with me. I wanted her to hug me and stroke my hair as she always did when I was smaller.

"I love you, Rachel. I´m sorry something like that had to happen but nobody could avoid it. One of your teachers and the principal had been informed and they, as well as you, are not to tell anyone about that. Not even Marianne. I have to quit talking to you because the police is almost here. Goodbye, love."

"Bye. I love you too, Mom", I told her and then put the phone down. Taking deep breaths I dried my eyes once more and then left the office.


	11. 11: Realizations and Dreams

11: Realizations and Dreams

Surprisingly for me I didn´t shed another tear after I had left the office. It seemed I was in a kind of trance that held me completely. Only with the corner of my eye I could make out Mr. Vankovic and the principal standing there. They probably expected me to tell them something about what I had spoken of with my mother but right at that moment I refused to speak or even think. As they looked at me with hope for an explanation I just nodded faintly and decided to spend another while in the hospital room.

I didn´t know why and it was also unusual that they let me in without their usual "the patient needs sleep". Something inside me seemed to tell me that I would be feeling better with Nataly than with Marianne. Sinking down on a chair beside her bed, my eyes focused on the ground.

Nataly placed a comforting hand on my forearm as she noticed my sadness. Perhaps she thought I was worried about her. Of course I was. I still gave myself the fault for the disappearance of her voice but the thing about my Dad troubled me more. The circumstances of his death made me think he was still alive. That could have been an explanation for my behaviour and all the salty water that didn´t run out of my eyes. As I looked up at my friend I saw her smile. This showed me she didn´t know yet what had really happened to her. But she had the right to know. "What did the doctor tell you about when your voice would come back?"

At my question she looked confused. She didn´t know how to show me that and came to the conlusion that she needed the pencil and paper that lay on the small table beside her bed. Rather hastily she scribbled down a few sentences and then handed the paper over to me.

_He said I must have been able to speak already and that he must have given me a too high dosis of the medicine. So I´m not truly worried. I trust him._ While I was reading this a ball of anger formed in my stomach. At least Mr. Vankovic had told me the truth. But now I didn´t know whether to tell her also or not. Nataly had never been as close to me as Marianne but I had to confess that we got to know each other a lot better and became friends while practicing for the singing event. She meant a lot to me and I couldn´t bear her believing such a stupid lie.

"Nataly, there´s something you don´t know yet. Mr. Vankovic talked to me and told me what really happened." I paused and cleared my throat.

Nervousness spread through her body obviously. It took all of me to continue: "I mean if you have luck everything will surely turn out good but... the chances that you´ll ever be able to speak again are very low. It´s almost impossible."

Tears sprung into her eyes. Her mouth formed an "Oh, god". Slowly I leaned forward and hugged her. It pained me to see her like that. She was clinging to me with a strong grip and my neck got wet from her tears. Rubbing her back a little she calmed down at least a bit. Nataly soon pushed me away with soft force. She didn´t want to bother me any longer, I could feel. Her physical state was good and the next day she would have to attend school again. She then motioned me to go and leave her to herself for a while.

I did as she had wished. Marianne wasn´t there. This was all so weird. The thing with Nataly, then my father. I went into my room and wanted to spend my free time there before the next lesson began. As I laid down on my bed I seemed to realize something: the fact that my father was really gone forever. I cried myself to sleep within moments...

_Once more an embrace welcomed me. It seemed as if it was deep at night but I knew it was around midday. I welcomed the darkness around me and turned around to look into a pair of beautiful ice blue eyes. I smiled softly at my Vladislaus as he wiped away my tears. "There, there, Rachel. Everything will be alright." His calming words had been spoken so softly I couldn´t help but to feel safe where I was._

_I didn´t struggle as his hands wandered to the edge of my shirt and pulled it off completely. He then rolled me over onto my stomach._

_His hands roamed all over my back and unknown sensations awoke inside me. Within seconds he had unclasped my bra and my back was completely bare. The Count´s hands felt cool but not displeasing. My skin crawled under his icy touch, sending shivers up and down._

_Never before I have felt so complete, just at peace. He then also grazed his fingernails softly all over my pale skin. I only cramped a little as he did so too hard. "Relax, my dear", he just said and that was point when I gave myself fully to him. I didn´t notice him taking out a small blade. Only slightly he pressed it against my back. As the blood started to trickle out he leaned down and licked the drops off. The pain was barely noticable for me. I couldn´t help but to enjoy what he was doing._

_Placing the blade aside he started to kiss his way over my skin, sometimes even grazing his fangs over it. More and more I got to enjoy it and sighed in utter pleasure as he sank his fangs into my right shoulder, draining the blood out of it. But as quickly he had begun he ended and let me awake with the words: "One day I´ll do this to your front." _


	12. Chapter 12: Painful Truth

Chapter 12: Painful Truth

I then found myself looking rather frantically around. What the count did to me felt almost too good and I missed his touch already. I hoped that he would come to me in my next dream again and laid down again. Right at that moment I noticed my bra hanging loosely around my shoulders and upper body. That made me sit up once more to fix everything. I found my black shirt beside my bed, although I couldn´t remember taking it off myself and throwing around. I wasn´t a sleepwalker or something.

As I bent down to pick the shirt up my hair fell into my face. I nearly fell off the bed from what I saw there. Before I was able to restrain myself I let out a scream that probably everyone in the building must have heard.

The door was flung open and Marianne stood in the doorway. "Rachel, what-... oh, my god!", she exclaimed. I reached up and took a strand of my hair into my hands to look at it. The black color of my hair was gone and only my naturally blond hair was there. Running into my bathroom I looked into the mirror. I gasped at my reflection. This wasn´t me anymore. It just couldn´t be me.

"What have you done? ... I mean, I was only out for a few minutes while you slept and your hair was...black?", Marianne started to question herself. A thing she hadn´t done in years because I had always believed she knew everything.

"I don´t know", I stammered. "It´s just I... I... I didn´t do anything to get the color out. But you believe me, don´t you? I´m not crazy?"

Marianne just shrugged. And she looked just as hopeless as I did. Without hesitating any further I opened the cupboard behind the mirror and took out a pair of scissors. In my opinion it was better to have short hair than this color. I lifted the scissors to my hair but couldn´t go any further because Marianne held me at my wrist. "If you cut your hair yourself you make everything worse! I know you hate short hair!"

Without thinking about possible injuries I tried to struggle out of her grip. The scissors got dangerously close to both our faces. She was now flexing my arm on my back to get the instrument out of my hands. I hissed at the pain as I cut myself in the back and then let go of it.

The pair of scissors landed on the floor with a clirring sound and was the only noise for some moments. I reached the wound with my fingertips to find it wasn´t bleeding. "You´re lucky. It´s only a bit red there", Marianne said.

"Thanks!", I said sarcastically, but finally coming to my senses and regretting my actions.

Normally Marianne would have said something but she just seemed to stare at my back. "What?", I asked suspicously. Before I could stop her she lifted my shirt up at the bottom and eyed my skin even closer. "First the blond hair and now I have if possible a sunburn?"; I joked but she stayed serious. I rolled my eyes. "Hello! Earth to Marianne, what is so special at my back?"

"You have cuts and scratches all over your back! That is special! ...What ...happened while you slept?"

This was ridiculous! I couldn´t possibly have all the scratches from my dream in reality. I turned my back towards the mirror and saw that it was true. There were tiny scratches from Dracula´s fangs and one deeper cut from the knife. That couldn´t be coincidence, it had to be true.

"I wasn´t far away when you screamed but before that I´ve been visiting Nataly. She gave me a letter for you." Marianne handed the letter she had just spoken of to me before continuing: "Our next lesson will start in a couple minutes. It´s History again and gives you the chance to read Nataly´s letter."

Of course! This school was focused on languages and History. I somehow looked forward to the face of the others when they see my blond hair. I went back into our room and put on some not-black clothes on purpose. I picked white shoes with a fitting long skirt. For the top I decided for a white shirt with red roses on it. It felt surprisingly good to be in such clothes again and I felt pretty somehow.

As Marianne and I walked to our classroom we kept talking about everything that had happened during the last hours. She promised me to do some research on paranormal incidents to find out more. But we also talked about the text we had to write for the lesson. It surprised me even more than her that I had actually written it. I had tried to combine my opinion with some arguments and Mr. Vankovic´s opinion to not give him the chance to complain about anything. As we entered the classroom all the heads of the girls focused on me.

I couldn´t hide my smile but still tried to ignore all the staring and went to my seat. Right as the staring started to become really annoying Mr. Vankovic entered the room and started his lesson: "At first you bring your essays to my desk. Then you´ll work in groups of two. You can decide for the topic yourself and have to work out a presentation. Your partner´s name is written on the board for you to read."

I decided to wait until the majority of the class was back on their seats. But Kate was faster and walked over to me. "If you want I can bring your essay to him. We´re partners!"


End file.
